


All The Gin Joints

by Cupcakemolotov



Series: come alive [14]
Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Caroline Has A History With Klaus, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-30
Updated: 2018-03-30
Packaged: 2019-04-14 18:44:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14142201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cupcakemolotov/pseuds/Cupcakemolotov
Summary: Sometimes you run into old friends in the most unlikely places.





	All The Gin Joints

Caroline liked bars.

When she'd been turned a century ago, the best a poor unmarried widow could hope to do on her own involved being flat on her back. At seventeen, she'd commanded quite the price, with her blond curls and blue eyes. Then one of her customers had gotten greedy and she'd woken with an appetite that had little to do with sex and everything to do with blood. Freedom tasted like metallic wine on her tongue and as a vampire, she'd thrived.

But she'd never quite lost her pleasure in being near people.

So at night, she worked as a barkeep. She liked to bounce from bar to bar, and over the years, perfected several languages exchanging stories with drunks. Caroline liked the little glimpses into human lives, the reminders that eternity only stretched out endlessly if you let it, and she enjoyed coaxing laughter from those who needed it. If occasionally, she ended up eating a sleazebag or two, well everyone had their vices.

She rarely stayed at one bar for more than a few months, and only stayed in a city until her feet knew them. Then she walked away as easily as she arrived, thirsty for the secrets the world had to tell her. She knew dozens of languages proficiently, spoke a few smattering of a dozen more. As the years ticked on, there were faces here and there that she knew, even the occasional friend she'd send post cards too. But those were rarer, as the years carried on. In her three centuries, Caroline had never really found herself looking for a familiar face in the crowd. But as she deftly poured a drink, eyes scanning the milling patrons in their modern clothes and childish enthusiasm, she found herself wondering if maybe it was time to start putting down roots.

"When Marcel mentioned a bit of blonde trouble, I wasn't expecting you," a familiar, clipped voice cut into her into her musings. "Hello, Caroline."

Caroline blinked. Turning, she found herself looking over at Klaus Mikaelson. She'd run into him a dozen or so times over the years, always during the most interesting of circumstances. She _still_ blamed him for that mess in Buenos Aires, and the glitter of amusement in his eye told her she wasn't hiding it.

"Klaus," she said, letting her surprise show. "Well, this is unexpected. I didn't realize you were still in the States. Is Marcel the one who keeps sending the annoying little minions to demand I present myself?"

He looked the same. A wild tumble of curls, blue eyes and wicked smile. She liked the necklaces, and what the shirt did for his shoulders. Klaus wasn't the type of vampire you bedded and then walked away from, and she'd always been a bit wary of the spark between them.

His lips curled and those dimples of his creased his cheeks. "Those would be my minions, love."

Both brows arching, she sauntered over closer, head tilting so the long tumble of her hair fell across her shoulder. "Your minions are _rude_."

"Are they? Is that why you keep eating them?" Klaus queried.

"I can't abide rudeness," Caroline said dismissively. "As you well know."

Klaus made a low, considering noise. "I seem to recall it being mentioned. I do remember quite clearly, a variety of offers to make up any perceived slights, sweetheart."

Caroline lowered her lashes, watched him from beneath the heavy fringe. "And yet, you've yet to make an offer that I've taken you up on."

She watched a vampire shift away from Klaus, expression way and she ignored him. Klaus was the most dangerous creature she'd ever met, but she'd proven to be useful, and later, she was sure, interesting. The glint in his eye didn't speak of anger, but of challenge.

She spoke again before he could. "So, this is your city, then?"

"For now," he murmured as he dragged his gaze along her body. Heat glimmered in his eyes, and the faintest hint of yellow caught the light.Curious, she leaned closer to study the colors in those eyes. She ignored the irritated calls for attention down the bar. It wasn't important, with Klaus' breath on her skin. It'd been a long time since she'd had a puzzle.

"That's new."

Klaus' lips curled higher, and his fingers lifted to brush along one of her curls. "Hmmm. So it is."

She swiped her tongue along her lip, hid her own smile when his pupils widened. "Always with your secrets."

"Let me take you to dinner." Klaus said softly, words nearly a demand.

" _I_ have a shift to finish."

Klaus shifted his gaze to the crowd, arched a thoughtful brow. "I could just eat them."

"I don't have a particular urge to repeat Buenos Aires," Caroline said firmly, eyes rolling upwards. "Which, by the way, you still have to make up to me."

"And how may I acquit myself?"

She set a drink in front of him. "You can start by tipping well."

Klaus caught her hand, thumb brushing along the veins on the underside of her wrist. "And later?"

Caroline paused, and consider him. The French Revolution was a long time ago, and age had given her an interesting perspective on monsters. Klaus had shown her kindness, once or twice, which she had repaid with what information she could regarding his curse. She'd always believed that their run-ins over the years were a mixture of her endless curiosity and his need for answers. An odd fondness, for the baby vampire he'd once known. But something had changed in Buenos Aires, when he'd incited that tiny war between the witches and wolves. Klaus had snapped her neck and left her abandoned in a boat a mile off shore, and it been years before she'd put enough of the puzzle together to understand who and what Mikael was.

Klaus didn't carry himself as someone content with how things had been. Instead, there was a hunting intensity to him that stirred the monster in her veins. Head tilting, she let caught her lip between her teeth, flicked her gaze to his mouth and then back to his eyes. "Well now, that depends. On how much you make it worth my while."

Tongue snaking across his lips, he lifted his glass and took a slow sip, gaze holding hers. "I'd be delighted."

Caroline thought he might. At the very least, he'd be a night of fun. She could always slip away to her next venture. Although, the way his eyes had bled gold, Caroline thought her days of going decades between run-ins might be over.

And she so did want to test out what kind of stamina a hybrid had.


End file.
